Real people, real spaces, real solutions

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This article was published 07/02/2025 (255 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Starting a home organizing business in 2019 gave Sara Verwymeren such a sense of purpose that when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer a few months later, she didn’t want to stop working.

The Wilkes South resident remembers taking her laptop to chemo treatments so she could keep Three Pines Organizing going. Her husband and a medical professional urged her to stop working and focus on her health.

“Absolutely not,” Verwymeren recalls her response. “This is what’s keeping me alive … I had something to work towards while I was going through these rounds of chemo.”

Verwymeren’s experience with cancer — it’s been in remission since spring 2020 — informs the company’s work today.

“There’s this deep vulnerability when we’re with clients and I think they often assume that we have it all together because we’re coming to help them,” the 42-year-old says. “I feel my story is so powerful because (it shows) we all have our stuff … None of us are immune to life. And so we come and we’re judgment-free.”

Born and raised on Long Island in New York state, Verwymeren spent much of her 20s working with a non-profit in Townsville, a coastal city in northeastern Australia. There, she fell in love with, and married, a man from Winnipeg who was working with the same organization.

The family relocated to Winnipeg in 2011.

When Verwymeren wanted to re-enter the workforce after staying at home full-time with her children, she combined her background in psychology, interest in organizing and passion for helping others to create Three Pines — a company whose name references the number of children she has and a kind of tree found in the country they call home.

“I want to help people,” Verwymeren says. “That’s what we did in Australia. We just want to serve our community.”

What started as a one-woman operation has grown into a team of seven, including two sisters based in Morden that Verwymeren hired in November to serve the Pembina Valley area of Manitoba.

Verwymeren and her team work within a range of budgets to achieve their goal of helping people love the space they’re in, no matter how big or small. Initial consults are free and the business offers complimentary donation drop-off.

The Three Pines approach is about simplifying, organizing and creating systems that work for the client.

“We’re not about perfectionism,” Verwymeren says, adding the sentiment applies to the way the company presents itself on social media.

“Most of the time, we’re trying to make a tiny space work on a smaller budget. We don’t want our clients to buy a ton of things they don’t need just so it looks good. So we’re dealing with real people (and) real spaces. I think people are tired of perfectionism. Nobody can keep up with that. We all know it’s not sustainable.”

Each session begins with the organizers pulling everything out of the room they are organizing and sorting it.

Once everything is sorted, the client has a better idea of what they own and what they need. The organizers work with them to decide what to keep, store and donate.

The organizers then create a customized system based on the client’s unique space. Whether it’s in a basket, bin or canister, everything gets a home and a label.

The organizers then load their cars with donations and leave.

“We try to be out of there by 3:30 p.m., so that we’re not encroaching on dinner time or when kids get home from school,” Verwymeren says.

Clients often feel vulnerable when they hire Three Pines. Typically, they’re exhausted after trying to organize their home themselves, Verwymeren says.

She estimates 70 per cent of clients cry during the first session. That’s where a non-judgmental, compassionate approach from organizers who can bring their experience and objectivity to the project helps, Verwymeren says.

The work that businesses like Three Pines do can be life changing, according to Noreen Music, president of Professional Organizers in Canada, a 25-year-old national association.

“The common word we hear (from clients) is, ‘We are so stressed and so overwhelmed, we don’t even know where to begin or how to start,’” says Music, who lives in Calgary. “The assistance of a professional can change the game for them.”

The association has around 450 members and Music believes there are 900 to 1,350 organizers in Canada who are non-members. For 20 to 25 per cent of organizers in Canada, it’s a full-time job; the rest do it part-time, Music says.

In her experience, a full-time organizing company with two or three employees can gross $150,000 to $180,000 annually. Meanwhile, hobbyists and subcontractors who work part-time can earn between $25 and $40 an hour.

Music has observed a growing demand for the service.

“People need help organizing in a lot of ways,” she says. “They’re busy families, busy professionals. It’s getting more and more common that people — just like they hire a meal-prep service — hire help to get themselves more organized at home or at work.”

That was the case for Trudi Legary. The 44-year-old stay-at-home mom and business consultant struggled for years to maintain organization in her Headingley home, which became a source of anxiety for her.

Four or five years ago, she hired Three Pines to organize her pantry. It went so well she’s had them back six or seven times since.

“I think the only bedroom they haven’t been in is the room that houses my electrical panel and furnace,” Legary says. “They’re like really good friends that come and help you out.”

The company’s work has vastly improved the way Legary’s household runs and positively impacted every member of her family.

“They have made my house feel like my home,” she says. “Instead of a place where I just live and store my stuff, they’ve helped me take a great deal of pride in my home and made it feel comfortable and cosy, well-organized and useful.”

Verwymeren enjoys providing meaningful employment for a growing team. Most Three Pines employees are parents who work for the company because it fits into their schedule in a way that allows them to be present for their families.

Helping clients is also gratifying, Verwymeren says.

“There is something really special here — this combination of practical help with walking alongside people, and really supporting them in their home and making them feel safe again in their home.”

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca